


can't you love what you've got?

by CycloneRachel



Category: The Boys (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Mentioned Annie January | Starlight, Mentioned Elena - Freeform, One Shot, Pre-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26285485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: Maeve learns about the newest recruit for the Seven- and, for the girl's sake, wishes Starlight had never become a superhero at all.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	can't you love what you've got?

**Author's Note:**

> so I'm really not sure where this came from. But I've been rewatching the series for the past week to prepare for season 2, and I thought Maeve and Starlight's dynamic was interesting and worth exploring. And I decided to give this a shot, as my first exploration into Maeve especially and how she relates to Starlight. I hope this is good?

When Maeve saw who Homelander had approved to join the Seven, she almost laughed.

(The part of her she’d buried a long time ago, whose name was Maggie Shaw, only felt sorry for her.)

“Is there a problem?”

Okay, maybe she might have laughed for real, judging by the sharp-voiced reaction from Stillwell’s PR lady after she’d told her the news personally. But she was allowed to voice her opinion, and Maeve figured she might as well too.

“I don’t know- was there?” she asked.

She only looked confused, her focus on Maeve and not the contracts she was about to be working on instead of this.

“What do you mean? There was no problem at all. Starlight fills a power-set vacuum left by Lamplighter-well, kind of. But it’s similar- no matter. She’ll be popular in the Midwest and with conservatives especially, she has a good origin story that’ll play well with a general audience...”

“I mean, what did Starlight do to deserve this?” Maeve clarified.

“She auditioned. Her hard work was evident, she gave a good performance, she was chosen because she was the best of our potential options, and proved it.”

_And judging by her file, Homelander will be able to wrap her around his little finger with all that “I am Jesus” bullshit. Even when he would never really give a fuck about her personally._

_Just because you can fly, doesn’t make you an angel of the Lord, you arrogant idiot._

(That lesson had had to be learned the hard way, more than one time.)

The tone in the woman’s voice- what was her name? Andrea? Angela? No, Ashley- dared Maeve to question her, and she wanted to.

_Did she have to suffer,_ Maeve nearly asked. _How old is she, and how long is it going to take for you to make her give all of herself away, make it so that whatever life she has is contained in your ads, movies, and comic books? What exactly did she do, to deserve a place on this team, with these people?_

Maeve didn’t doubt the new girl’s powers. She wouldn’t have been approved if she wasn’t perfect- the Seven wasn’t just any other superhero team, or so they always said, and she’d seen enough auditions over the years to know that any flaw or weakness (in powerset or appearance) meant that you wouldn’t make the cut.

(Vought had made an exception for her, and afterwards, in some way that she never found out and never questioned, had more than made up for it.)

But despite appearances, being a part of the Seven wasn’t something to be envied. And especially for someone like Starlight, so young and not yet molded by the world’s expectations of her, it didn’t seem fair or right for Vought to take another innocent woman and strip away everything that made her good- made her human.

(Then again, the world wasn’t fair, and Maeve had long since stopped complaining about it.)

She didn’t have to wonder what they would do to her, after the honeymoon glow of Starlight joining the most famous superhero team in America wore off. There would be meetings to discuss her image, what angle she had to play for the cameras whenever they were on her.

(Which would be a lot of the time)

She would see things that would destroy her ability to love anything about Vought, or any of the people unlucky enough to be swept up with it. It would break her heart, but she’d have to learn to deal with it, and everything else in their fucked-up little world.

She would lose the ability to be normal, to pass as any ordinary person outside of her hometown. If she’d had a secret identity, and didn’t just give up on it like Homelander had, Vought would claim it and trademark it, along with the rest of her.

And soon enough, anyone who knew her outside of the costume wouldn’t anymore, if she was even allowed to wear anything other than her costume.

Elena could certainly testify to that, if she was even willing to speak to Maeve after seeing who she associated with nowadays.

After a few minutes of Maeve’s silence, Ashley sat back and examined her face.

“Are you jealous, Maeve?” she asked, her own expression lighting up as Maeve tried not to flinch. “Is that it? Worried she’ll take all the attention from you, after your years of being the only girl in the Vought Tower?”

“No.” Maeve answered, shaking her head. “I mean, the girl makes her own spotlight, she certainly won’t need mine.”

Ashley seemed satisfied by that.

“Good. Remember that answer, because that’s exactly the kind of response you’re going to need to give when you’re asked that question- and it’s almost inevitable that you will. It has humor in it, but also shows that you respect and appreciate other women.”

_Not in **that** way_, Maeve heard.

“You’ll do even better with feminists.” Ashley continued. “Be glad you’re not A-Train. He still needs to be scripted for everything, even hospital visits for charity.”

“Yeah.” Maeve agreed. “He _is_ the fastest man alive, and apparently that includes never knowing when to stop running his mouth.”

Ashley gave her a hollow laugh.

“And that is why we love you.” she said. “But just don’t let Homelander hear you say that. And try to minimize the snide comments in front of the press, hmm? We’ve got an event coming up, and I’m supposed to make sure you’re all on your best behavior.”

Maeve nodded absently, hand running up and down her right arm while she looked down at the promo picture of Starlight once more.

She lived up to her name, in her almost blindingly white costume, gold accents sure to catch the light of every camera that was focused on her from now on. She was apparently from Iowa, young, blonde, and hopeful, and she just wanted to do some good in the world.

A second chance.

If Maeve had any hope for her, it would be that she didn’t lose her soul- even if the odds of that were less than that of any of Vought’s movies leaving the number-one position at the box-office.

_The warrior queen and America’s latest sweetheart. What a team we’ll make._


End file.
